500.A15/1168: Telegram
The Chairman of the American Delegation ( Gibson ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10 p.m.]
55. Following is draft of speech referred to in my 54, December 4, 7 p.m.:
“In the course of our debates we have heard numerous estimates as to the value of our work. But it is only now that our deliberations are coming to an end that we can effectively judge to what degree we have succeeded in our task.
For four years we have been endeavoring to reach an agreement. There have been long and direct conflicts of opinion; views have been maintained with vigor; and yet our friendship with those who have differed from us has grown as steadily and as surely as our friendship with those who have shared our views. I take this as a good omen for the spirit in which all the nations will enter the General Disarmament Conference and try to convert our text from a theory to a reality.
I have, throughout, been sensible of the very real difficulties under which many members of this Commission have labored. Overshadowing our discussions, though seldom spoken, have been the [Page 202] anxieties and worries that have arisen from the special preoccupations felt by numerous governments for their national security.
We have now completed a draft convention which, after study by the Governments, will go forward to the general conference. I should not be frank if I did not say that this draft falls far short of our hopes and expectations. It fails to contain many factors in which we have always believed and which, in our opinion, would lead to a real reduction of armaments. What we have achieved does not hold out the promise of bringing about that immediate reduction of armaments we would like to see. Make no mistake; it is not my purpose to belittle what we have done. Although our hopes may thus be disappointed, we can find comfort in the measure of agreement which has been reached in this Commission. We can at least foresee a stabilization of armaments, the setting up of a machinery to receive and disseminate information on armaments, to educate public opinion, and to prepare systematically for the work of future conferences, as successive milestones in the continuing process of disarmament. If these things can be achieved by the coming conference, and from present indications I think we are justified in assuming that they can be achieved, we shall have a situation obviously better than we have at present and, while we cannot claim to have built the edifice, we shall at least have laid the foundation upon which the edifice can be erected.
It is possible that the coming conference will accomplish more than this, but, if so it will be because our labors have been improved upon and because, after mature study of the problems involved and after weighing the consequences of failure, the governments come to the conference resolved on greater measures of concession than the delegates here have been authorized to make.
I feel that we should be rendering a poor service to the cause of reduction of armaments if we were to lead our peoples to believe that this work carried the movement further than it does. We have been repeatedly told during the past four years of the role of public opinion in connection with disarmament. It has been repeatedly said that real achievement by the Conference can be reached only by an aroused public opinion. This is partly true, but it is not enough that public opinion be aroused. It is first of all necessary that it should be informed, for an aroused and uninformed public opinion may do infinitely more harm than good. Public opinion will not be informed in such a way as to exercise an intelligent influence if, through a desire to create confidence, we adopt too optimistic a tone as to what can be accomplished on the basis of our present draft. Such exaggeration can really tend only to lull public opinion into a false sense of confidence, render it incapable of exercising its salutary influence, and prepare it for inevitable disillusionment. Exaggerated statements have their inevitable reaction because, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, ‘you can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.’
We are all in agreement that an immense amount of preparatory work remains to be done before the meeting of the General Conference. The technical preparation for that Conference is in all conscience great enough; but a more difficult and more responsible [Page 203] task lies ahead of all our governments in informing public opinion as to the facts, as to the difficulties, and as to the possible measures which may, with mutual concession, help us toward the goal we all desire to reach. This end can be served only by stating our achievements and our difficulties with moderation.
I hope that in separating at the conclusion of our labors we shall not yield to the temptation to indulge in mutual congratulation, that we may separate with becoming modesty, and, on reporting to our various governments, that we do so with a full and frank recognition of the shortcomings of our present draft, and of the duties and responsibilities still before our governments to lead the General Disarmament Conference to the success which our peoples earnestly desire.”